Pat Kenny got increasingly giddy as the show progressed, his mental plate-spinning visible as he tried to juggle his eight interviewees

O
f all the troubling questions that face us in these dark days, one troubles
more than others. It is a head-scratcher, no doubt about it. Perhaps
together, if we really try, we can figure it out. The question is this:
where do they find the audience members for The Frontline?

Public participation is a cornerstone of this format, but was the original
intention to have such seemingly unrepresentative audiences? Is there some
kind of national association of political anoraks on a retainer to provide a
few people each week?

Last week the Frontline team found not one but two still-fervent Fianna Fail
supporters happy to show themselves publicly. Two bog bodies brought back to
life would have been less of a surprise. Then there was the chairman of the
Sandycove and Glasthule residents’ association. If the day comes when the
red flag flies over Sandycove and Glasthule, and this man